I suggested to my friend that there should be a door in the side of the lift compartment that could be opened in the event of a breakdown and that it must be feasible for a smaller pod attached to the side of the liftcar (is that what they are called?) to shunt you down to the bottom of the shaft independent of the main lift.

so, imagine a pod in the shape of an egg-timer with nicely padded walls and enough space for one person to be able to clamber from one compartment in the bottom of the pod to another compartment above it via a small ladder.

wound round the entire pod vertically is enough cable to enable the pod to reach the bottom of the lift shaft.

in the event of breakdown, one traveller (if there are more than one) opens the escape hatch to the pod and disengages whatever mechanism holding the pod to the side of the main lift and then proceeds to move the pod downwards by climbing to the topmost compartment via the ladder flipping the pod over and uncoiling the cable. the rider will continually move from the bottom most compartment to the top one to keep the momentum going although he/she may of course stop for breath.